Drinking containers such as mugs, cups, and glasses have been known and used for hundreds of years. Prior art drinking containers are conventionally provided with an interior sidewall that is vertical throughout a particular cross-section and length of the container. A vertical sidewall maximizes the volume of fluid that may be contained in a container of a given height. Some drinking containers have an interior sidewall that extends radially outward along a bottom region thereof in order to maximize volume and prevent the container from tipping over. Other drinking containers have an interior sidewall that curves radially inward along a bottom region thereof or that extends radially outward along a top region thereof. These latter applications are ornamental in nature. However, all of these drinking containers have a substantially vertical interior sidewall along a particular cross-section and length thereof. When a drinking container has such a vertical sidewall, it is necessary to tilt the vertical sidewall past horizontal in order to drain all drinking fluid from the container.
Some disabled individuals have difficulty drinking or are entirely unable to drink from conventional drinking containers that require tilting. Such problems are encountered by paralyzed individuals; individuals who are immobilized by illness, such as nerve or muscular disorders; elderly individuals; and by individuals suffering from temporary or permanent injuries to the hand, wrist, arm, or shoulder.
Disabled individuals can catch pneumonia by drinking from conventional drinking containers. When a disabled individual tilts his or her head back in order to drain fluid from a drinking container, residual amounts of drinking fluid may drain into the individual's lungs. The presence of liquid in the lungs facilitates infection by bacteria or viruses, resulting in pneumonia. If a disabled person is already in a weakened condition, catching pneumonia can be fatal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,928 (Stevens) provides a cup that assists individuals who suffer from dysphasia, a condition associated with difficulty swallowing. This is accomplished by providing a cup having an upwardly extending, elliptically-shaped sidewall defining an elliptical aperture at its apex. The elliptical aperture is sized to accommodate a person's nasal bridge during drinking such that substantial backwards angulation of the head is not required. When the cup is tilted to empty the contents of the cup, the user does not hit his or her nose on the cup or have to tilt his or her head back to empty the cup. The cup includes a handle disposed 90 degrees out from the major axis of the elliptical aperture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,354 (Garcia) provides a drinking mug having a nose bridge receptacle and a pair of eye relief channels formed on either side of the nose bridge receptacle. The mug is disclosed as having a vertical interior sidewall.
There remains a need for a drinking container that empties completely with minimal tilting of the container about a horizontal axis.